Showing posts with label junk wax era. Show all posts
Showing posts with label junk wax era. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Flea Market Finds #164: Finest Find of the Year

Picture the perfect SaturdayDoes yours involve familyFriendsFoodCardsSports?

This past Saturday may not have been perfect, but it was close.  The day started out with a trip to the flea market, a card show, and a delicious lunch with a childhood friend.  And ended with the A's and Padres winning... and the Diamondbacks and Dodgers losing.  Plus there was a short, but much needed nap tossed into the mix.  Arguably the best Saturday of the 2024 summer.

Today's post focuses on what I picked up at the Branham Flea Market.  This monthly flea market takes place in a local high school's parking lot and probably averages 50 to 70 vendors.  My favorite thing about this particular flea market is that there always seems to be a few first-time vendors who came out in an effort to clear out their personal belongings.

All three of my purchases were from people I had never seen before and two of them seemed to be doing some summer cleaning...


Purchase #1:   Oakland A's Stuff  $10

About halfway through the flea market, I came across a guy with a bunch of Oakland A's memorabilia on a table.  We started chatting about the A's leaving Oakland and he showed off a few of his itemsTwo things really caught my eye.  He had one of those plastic batting helmets from the 80's that was still in the original packaging for $15.

Ultimately I put it back on the table and settled for this instead...

1979 Oakland A's Scorebook

The guy had six or seven game programs and scorebooks from the late 70's and early 80's.  This one is from 1979 and had five ticket stubs stapled to the cover:



This is the year that Rickey Henderson made his MLB debut.  Unfortunately all five of these games were from the pre-Rickey era... although the last one took place only six days before.


Purchase #21993-94 Finest Basketball Set  $20


Back in 1993, I was on a break from the hobby.  It was probably a good thing, because I was in college and there was no way I could afford Topps Finest baseball or basketball.

Even when I was on the outside looking in, I knew both of these products were popular, hard to find, and very expensive.  In 1994, I returned to collecting (thanks to the 1994 NBA Draft class) and this set was way out of my budget.

1993-94 Finest #1

Over the years, I really wanted to add the Michael Jordan to my collection... but I just couldn't justify spending $30 to $50 for a base card from the middle of his career.

That's why I was super stoked to pick up the entire set for less than the price of a Topps Series 2 blaster.

The vendor who sold me it bought a large collection from an estate sale, pulled out the stuff he wanted, and was selling the rest to recoup his money.  As expected, he was trying to dump a lot of Junk Wax Era sets and singles with prices ranging from outrageously overpriced to a deal like this set.

1993-94 Finest #189

At the time of purchase, I wasn't 100% sure the set was complete.  The Jordan and the Penny rookie card were in top loaders, but the rest of the cards weren't in order.  The $20 price tag was worth the risk and it paid off.

1993-94 Finest #3
1993-94 Finest #212

I eventually sat down, sorted the cards, gave each one a brand new penny sleeve, and put them into a new 400ct. box.  This might just be my favorite flea market purchase of the year.


However since the Jordan is part of the set... I still need to find a copy for my player collection.


Purchase #3Dollar Bin Cards  $3

The final purchase was from one of those "garage sale" vendors.  This family had everything ranging from dvd's to used clothes to kitchen appliances to unwanted toys.  On the ground were three 3,000ct. boxes filled with cards from the late 80's and early 90's.

I quickly glanced at them and almost walked away... when I noticed this black bordered card:

1985 Topps #251

This Warren Moon rookie card is pretty beat up, but it was enough to catch my attention.  The guy was looking to sell everything, but after telling him I probably would only want a few cards he told me I could have whatever I wanted for a buck a piece.

After digging through his boxes for about ten minutes, I added these two cards to the stack:

1990 Score #697

I'm a sucker for this Bo and will always fork over a buck to add it to the binder.

1998-99 Topps Chrome Season's Best Refractor #SB12

The other card I found was this Kevin Garnett refractor.  We currently live in an era where refractors seemed to be pulled in every other pack.  This card came from an era where collectors appreciated the refractor when they pulled one.

Well that wraps up my latest trip to the flea market.  Not a lot of quantity... but very happy with the quality.

The card show I went to right after this was exactly the opposite: quantity over quality.  But I'll save that for another post.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Flea Market Finds #160: One Man's Junk


Mother Nature was looking out for me this weekend.  It's been raining off and on the past week or so.  Most of the time I enjoy this kind of weather, but I was looking forward to walking around the De Anza Flea Market on Saturday.  As luck would have it... no rain was forecasted that morning.

My expectations weren't high.  Both vendor and visitor attendance drops during the winter... and there were scattered showers on Friday.  But when I drove up, I was pleasantly surprised.


Purchase #11993 Upper Deck Series 2 Baseball Box  $40

 
Not all Junk Wax is junk.  About ten minutes into my walk, I stumbled across a guy who had a bunch of Junk Wax Era boxes on his table.  Three stood out.  One was an early 90's Action Packed football.  Another was a 1990 Upper Deck baseball.  Then there's the one I bought.

Does it contain a Derek Jeter rookie?  I won't find out anytime soon.  This is going into my unopened wax box collection.  Yup.  I'm one of those guys who collects those.


Purchase #21990 Comic Ball Promo Set  $5


A few vendors down, I found a binder with some comic cards.  The guy wanted $20 for the entire binder, which I'm sure was a fair price.  Unfortunately, I didn't really want anything other than this set of promo cards.


Another Junk Wax Era product I like.  I already own a complete set of the regular set and the holograms.  Now I have the promo card set too.


Purchase #32023 Hot Wheels Premium Fast & Furious $15


I'm a sucker for Toyota Supra MK5 die-cast.  Saw this two-pack back in December, but the vendor wanted $20.  Found this at a different vendor's booth and he told me $15 is what Target sells them for (if you can find them on the pegs).


Purchase #450¢ Cards  $3

There are always a handful of vendors who deal with storage locker purchases.  I'm 90% positive this guy was one of them.  He had a bunch of 5,000ct. boxes filled with sports cards.  The majority were from the last decade or so, but there was some vintage sprinkled in here and there. When I walked up there were a couple of other guys flipping through them.

I spent about thirty minutes going through the boxes.  Here's what I pulled out...

2010 Topps A&G #130

I found this card in the first stack I picked up and it totally lured me in.  I've mentioned it before that back in the 60's, my father worked on the SR-71 in Area 51.  This card goes into my Papa Fuji PC.

There were hundreds of Allen & Ginter cards from a variety of years sitting in these boxes.  I would have bought a lot more had they been a dime each.  50¢ is a different story.   I only picked up two.  Here's the other one:

2015 Topps A&G #56

This was one of those weird purchases where I had just thought about this card the night before.  On Friday, I saw on ESPN that Carl Weathers passed away and immediately wondered if I owned any Rocky cards featuring him.  When I checked COMC, this card popped up.  Not sure if I have one sitting in a box somewhere.

Anyways... I figured I'd grab this copy just in case.

Next up were these three Jordans:

2009 Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Retrospective #1009, #1126, & #1131

There were hundreds of these Retrospective inserts and I like the A&G singles.... I would have loved to have a bunch of them.  But 50¢ each adds up quickly.

I seem to have accidentally deleted the sixth card I purchased... which was a Shaquille O'neal Hoops rookie cardBut do you really need to see anymore Junk Wax Era cards today?

Well that wraps up my latest trip to the flea market.  Not sure when I'll be heading back.  Guess it all depends on the weather.

In the meantime... I do have a few posts I'm working on in between staying busy at work and organizing stuff at home.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Flea Market Finds #159: Vintage, Junk Wax, and a Cool Mug

Hello there.  Sorry I haven't been very present in the card blogosphere the past few weeks.  Life happens.

I'll spare the explanations and excuses.  Most of you who check out this blog know the deal.  Let's get to the collectible stuff.

This past weekend, I hit up the De Anza Flea Market.  I planned this trip out earlier in the week and set aside a few hours in my schedule.

In recent trips, this flea market hasn't been that good.   Although it reopened after the lockdown over a year ago... it has struggled to lure both vendors and visitors... and seemed to be clinging to life.  I'm happy to report aisles were filled with collectibles and people treasure hunting.

Made a purchase within a few minutes into the walk and it involved one of my favorite things to collect...


Purchase #1Vintage Cards $5

An older gentleman I hadn't seen before had a bunch of unopened wax boxes from the early 90's.  The only thing I was remotely interested in was a box of 1990 Pro Set PGA Tour cards.  Next to them were three monster boxes with dollar packs.  One of these boxes had a bunch of cheap, pre-priced vintage in top loaders.  I ended up pulling out two cards

1964 Topps #246

I've always pictured Mota as a Dodger.  This card will be a healthy reminder that he was a Pirate too.

1956 Topps #7

I bought this card thinking #15 in the front row was Bart Starr.  It's not.  It's Paul HeldStarr was drafted in 1956, but didn't show up on a Topps card until the following season.  There are at least two hall of famers featured on this card though:  Jim Ringo and Bobby Dillon.  Possibly more.


The back features two more hall of famers names:  Don Hutson and Tony Canadeo.


Purchase #2San Francisco Postcards $5

Two rows over, there was a family with a bunch of garage sale stuff.  The father had a box of old stereoscope photos and postcards.  There were hundreds of them related to San Francisco, but I narrowed my stack down to these five:









I couldn't find any dates on these, but the guy said they were likely from the 50's or 60's... maybe even a little earlier.  His asking price was a little steep ($3 each), but thankfully he accepted my $5 counteroffer.


Purchase #3One Lone Curry Card $1

The postcard guy's son had a few stacks of cards (wrapped in rubber bands).  I found two... but this is the only one he'd let me have for a buck:

2021-22 Panini Hoops Slam #193

Like father, like son... his asking prices were a bit extreme.  Both cards I pulled were Steph cards.  He wanted $5 for one of them and $3 for this one.  After I was about to leave empty-handed, he told me he'd take my dollar for this one.


Purchase #4Pac-Man Beer Mug $3


I have way too many mugs sitting around.  Probably because I just can't say "no" to cool mugs with affordable price tags at the flea market.


Purchase #5One Lone Junk Wax Pack $5

1989 Donruss Value Pack

As I was walking down the last two rows... there was a guy with some clothes, books, and cd's laid out in rows on the ground.  I strolled down the cd aisle and saw a box with some late 80's rack packs.  All of them had at least one star showing.  There were three that stood out.  One was a 1990 Fleer with Gwynn on top.  Another was a 1989 Topps with a Nolan Ryan showing.  However the guy wouldn't budge off from his $5 per pack asking price, so I put both of those back and took home The Kid.

That'll wrap up my recent trip to the flea market.  There were actually two more purchases (a succulent and a pot) made on this trip, but I gave them to my friend's mom before writing this post.  Sorry about that succulent fans.

Thank you for those who have stuck around and continue to support the blog... even though posts are few and far between.  I actually have plenty to write about... including a pair of recent care packages... it's just a matter of finding time in my hectic schedule.  In fact... if it weren't for the extra day off this week... this post would have been written and published much, much later.

Okay... no more moaning and groaning.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!